Connect with us

Action

Mayhem (2017)

Published

on

Summary

Derek Cho (Steven Yeun) is having a really bad day. After being unjustly fired from his job, he discovers that the law firm’s building is under quarantine for a mysterious and dangerous virus. Chaos erupts throughout the office as the victims of the disease begin acting out their wildest impulses. Joining forces with a former client (Samara Weaving) who has a grudge of her own, Derek savagely fights tooth and nail to get to the executives on the top floor and settle the score once and for all.

Genre : Action-Horror
Country : USA

Cast :
Steven Yeun : Derek Cho
Samara Weaving : Melanie Cross
Steven Brand : John Towers
Director : Joe Lynch

Let The Mayhem Begin

One of the things that makes film such a special medium is how they can make the mundane seem magical. Something as simple as a child’s toy collection can be not only have an adventure but can bring grown men to tears in the process. Movies can take something as nerve wracking as dating and turn it into an easy-going experience with the right musical cue and romantic moment. Seemingly he one place movies can’t make look good is the workplace.

Despite a film’s ability to enchant very rarely is your typical office job portray as a good thing. Aside from occasionally being fantastical things never actually seem enjoyable. At best the job will be depicted as a mind-numbing slog like in Office Space and at worst will be an evil corporation like Total Recall‘s Rekall. But no matter how annoying the job may be one thing is for certain, it always comes back to the workplace. And this is no truer than in Joe Lynch‘s latest, Mayhem.

If you think this sounds a lot like January’s The Belko Experiment I don’t blame you. With both movies being about blood-soaked carnage taking over an office building it’s easy to mistake the two. In fact, I’m sure I saw the “Battle Royale meets The Office” used as pull quotes for both films. While a good descriptor it is much more fitting when applied to Mayhem. Unlike it’s bigger budgeted counterpart Mayhem doesn’t feel like a typical horror-action movie. Instead of being a more straight forward horror take Belko had Mayhem is more of a cynical look at comes to corporate life. It has a lot more personality to it and I attribute due to the influence of director Joe Lynch.

 

Similar to his past work in Wrong Turn II and Knights of Badassdom, Lynch does a phenomenal job mixing genres. He never lets the plot get too heavy while also never letting it become an outright comedy either. It rides the fine line between horror and humor that few directors can nail. With a more lighthearted tone and likable characters it doesn’t feel like the more sterile film The Belko Experiment became.

Aside from the writing a big part of this is the casting of Steven Yeun. His first lead role since leaving The Walking Dead he more than delivers as Derek Cho. Like his time as Glenn, Yeun brings with him an innocence to the role that makes him the perfect protagonist. No matter what craziness happens while he is infected you never think of him as a bad guy just someone stuck in a bad situation. Just as good in the film is his co-star Samara Weaving as Melanie. Introduced as the kind of victim of corporate America you’d expect to see in a drama she quickly sheds this image to reveal an absolutely kick ass heroine. With a sympathetic, if familiar, backstory and the right cache of weapons Melanie is the kind of wish you’d bad ass you want to be in a horror movie. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of the rest of the cast. That isn’t to say that the supporting cast is bad because they aren’t. Character actors Steven Brand, Caroline Chikezie and Dallas Roberts put in some deliciously evil performances. The problem is how one note they feel. There is really no motive or reason, they’re just evil. Not that I think every character needs to a tragic backstory in a movie like Mayhem. I just wish there was a bit more than generic corporate villainy turned up to 11. Of course, you don’t go into a film titled Mayhem looking for a fun script or likable heroes. Those are just a bonus. No, what audiences are looking for is cinematic chaos and thankfully Mayhem delivers.

 

Like Lynch’s last film Everly, Mayhem moves at a frenetic pace that doesn’t lets up. Never holding back on the blood or the violence it ratchets it up with each scene. Each scene taking things up a notch before it’s explosive finale. Like the best horror-action movies Mayhem doesn’t delves too far into either genre, instead giving both their due on screen. If there is a stumbling block it would be the film’s budget. While the ambition and ideas are there the budget and story limit the settings. Aside from a few unconventional weapons and set pieces the scenes can look the same after a while. Everly has proven that Joe Lynch can get quite creative with his action scenes if given the proper resources. Regardless despite this downside you’ll never leave a scene unsatisfied.


2017 has been a big year for horror movies both critically and commercially. Whether it’s mainstream fare like IT or to sleep hits such as It Comes At Night they all have one things in common, a passion for the genre. Directors such as Jordan Peele and Andrés Muschietti’s passion for the genre shows on the screen and Mayhem is no different. With Joe Lynch behind the cameras audiences are treated to a bloody and subversive take on corporate America. While it certainly has its issues, and isn’t the most original film it more than delivers on its namesake. Fun if flawed Mayhem has the perfect mix of action and scares to bring 2017 to a close.

My rating 7/10
Links : IMDB

 

 

 

FILM RATING
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Action

Expendables 4 Movie Review | Explosive & Funny!

Published

on

Expendables 4 (Lionsgate Movies)

The following piece was written during the 2023 Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie material being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Plot

A new generation of stars join the world’s top action stars for an adrenaline-fueled adventure in Expend4bles. Reuniting as the team of elite mercenaries, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, and Sylvester Stallone are joined for the first time by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Jacob Scipio, Levy Tran, and Andy Garcia. Armed with every weapon they can get their hands on and the skills to use them, The Expendables are the world’s last line of defense and the team that gets called when all other options are off the table. But new team members with new styles and tactics are going to give “new blood” a whole new meaning.

Iko Uwais as Suarto Rahmat (Lionsgate Movies)

The Expendables Film Series

I highly recommend catching up on the other movies in the Expendables film series.

Expendables 1 (2010)

The only life they’ve known is war. The only loyalty they have is to each other. They are the Expendables: leader and mastermind Barney Ross (Stallone), former SAS blade expert Lee Christmas (Statham), hand-to-hand combat specialist Yin Yang (Li), long barrel weapons specialist Hale Caesar (Crews), demolitions expert Toll Road (Couture), and precision sniper Gunnar Jensen (Lundgren). Living life in the fringes of the law, these hardened mercenaries take on what appears to be a routine assignment: a covert, CIA-funded operation to infiltrate the South American country of Vilena and overthrow its ruthless dictator General Garza (David Zayas). But when their job is revealed to be a suicide mission, the men are faced with a deadly choice, one that might redeem their souls or destroy their brotherhood forever.

The Expendables Official Trailer (Lionsgate Movies)

Expendables 2

Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren),Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) — with newest members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) aboard — are reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time — six tons of weapons-grade plutonium; enough to change the balance of power in the world. But that’s nothing compared to the justice they serve against the villainous adversary who savagely murdered their brother. That is done the Expendables way….

The Expendables 2 Official Trailer (Lionsgate Movies)

Expendables 3 (2014)

In The Expendables 3, Barney (Stallone), Christmas (Statham) and the rest of the team comes face-to-face with Conrad Stonebanks (Gibson), who years ago co-founded The Expendables with Barney. Stonebanks subsequently became a ruthless arms trader and someone who Barney was forced to kill… or so he thought. In order to defeat Stonebanks, Barney decides that he has to fight old blood with new blood, and brings in a new era of Expendables team members, recruiting individuals who are younger, faster and more tech-savvy. The latest mission becomes a clash of classic old-school style versus high-tech expertise in the Expendables’ most personal battle yet.

The Expendables 3 Official Trailer (Lionsgate Movies)

Movie Review

Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture and Sylvester Stallone bring the explosive energy needed to give us an explosive performance on-screen. The new members, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Jacob Scipio, Levy Tran, and Andy Garcia bring in a breath of fresh air with new attitude and fighting styles to keep us entertained. This movie is the fourth in the Expendable film series, but there is definitely no clear link between this movie and the prequels. Each movie in essence is a new mission and Expendables 4 can be watched without watching the previous movies. I suggest watching the previous three movies to experience the explosive action that you get when you combine our favorite action heroes.

Sylvester Stallone as Barney Ross, leader of the Expendables (Lionsgate Movies)

Expendables 4 was great and delivered yet another action-packed mission filled with awesome fights, humor, cultural references and explosions. However, it wasn’t difficult to spot the main villain and there aren’t much surprises in terms of the new action stars who join this mission.

The movie starts us off with the Expendables in a race against time to retrieve nuclear warheads, but the mission goes south and instead of sticking to orders, one of the soldiers attempt to save his team member instead, which results in a failed mission and a casualty. The story follows the combination of accomplishing the mission while delivering a can of revenge-based whoop-ass. The last fight isn’t as explosive as the cast but still manages to deliver a plot-twist finale.

Megan Fox, Andy Garcia & Jacob Scipio, some of the newest members of the Expendables (Lionsgate Movies)

A future sequel should really consider a completely new group pick up the baton and leave us in suspense as to who the new heroes and villains could be. I love a good surprise with a side of plot twist in any movie.

There is no post-credits scene, so no need to wait till the very end. The trailer doesn’t spoil any of the plot twists you can expect from the movie. Overall, my rating for Expendables 4 is a 3.5 out of 5.

Make sure to watch at a cinema near you!

Expend4bles Official Trailer (Lionsgate Movies)

FILM RATING
Continue Reading

Action

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom | Official Trailer

Arthur must enlist the help of his half-brother Orm in order to protect Atlantis against Black Manta, who has unleashed a devastating weapon in his obsessive quest to avenge his father’s death.

Published

on

By

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom [credit: Warner Bros. / DC]

Genre:

Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Release Date:

December 20,  2023

Director:

James Wan

Cast:

Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

Plot Summary:

Arthur must enlist the help of his half-brother Orm in order to protect Atlantis against Black Manta, who has unleashed a devastating weapon in his obsessive quest to avenge his father’s death.

FILM RATING
Continue Reading

Action

Retribution Movie Review: Mildly Explosive 

Published

on

Lionsgate Films

The following piece was written during the 2023 Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie, Retribution, being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Plot

When a mysterious caller puts a bomb under Matt Turner’s car seat, he begins a high-speed chase across the city to complete a specific series of tasks. With his kids trapped in the back seat and a bomb that will explode if they get out of the car, a normal commute becomes a twisted game of life or death as Matt follows the stranger’s increasingly dangerous instructions in a race against time to save his family.

Liam Neeson as Matt Turner (Lionsgate Films)

Did You Know?

This movie is the third remake of the movie titled Retribution.

In 2015, a Spanish-language adaptation, The Stranger (El desconocido) was released. This was the first Retribution movie. A dishonest banker pays the ultimate price for his wrongdoings when he is held hostage in his own speeding car by a bomb-making extortionist.

In 2018, a German-language adaptation, Don’t. Get. Out! (Steig. Nicht. Aus!) was released in Germany. A loving father and husband is extorted by an unknown guy and he is about to lose his life, his money and his family

In 2021, a Korean version, Hard Hit (Balsinjehan) was released. On his way to work, a bank manager receives an anonymous call claiming there’s a bomb under his car seat, and if anyone exits the car, it will explode unless he can pay a ransom.

The Turner Family (Lionsgate Films)

Movie Review

Liam Neeson plays the role of Matt Turner, and is literally in the ‘hot seat’ throughout most of the movie. The movie eases you into the drama and the suspense keeps building as the time passes. No time is wasted to bring A small cast brought an intense situation to life in Retribution, and I need to compliment, especially Liam Neeson, Jack Champion and Lilly Aspell, who played the parts of Matt Turner, Zach Turner and Emily Turner respectively for playing the part in the car to perfection. A plot twist is delivered at the end, but the ending is not as explosive as the bomb in the car.

Overall my rating is 3 out of 5 for the Retribution. There is no post-credits scene, so no need to wait till the end. The trailer doesn’t spoil too much of the movie and serves as a great appetizer for Retribution.

Catch the trailer, and watch Retribution at a cinema near you.

FILM RATING
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Popular Now

Advertisement
Advertisement

TRENDING NOW

Trending

CoastalHouseMedia.com is a property of Coastal House LLC. © 2012 All Rights Reserved. Images used on this website are registered trademarks of their respective companies/owners.

0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x